GDC 2004: The History of Zelda

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Eiji Aonuma speaks about the essence of Zelda.

By IGN Staff

Wednesday, Eiji Aonuma, director of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, spoke about the history of The Legend of Zelda series. Aonuma-san touched upon how he became entangled with Zelda, how the series has evolved over the years, and the challenges of creating new innovative gameplay while maintaining the integrity of the series. Also, he spoke about the notion of Zelda realism vs. reality and the decisions involved with making Wind Waker cel-shaded.

Aonuma-san's speech was simultaneously translated by Bill Trinen, and the transcription of Trinen's translation follows:

Good Afternoon. My name is Eiji Aonuma and I work in the software production department of Entertainment Analysis and Development, or EAD, at Nintendo Company Ltd. For roughly eight years, I've been doing work related to a game known as Zelda. But, I never imagined an opportunity for me to talk to you about this experience would ever come. I was very surprised when the opportunity arose and at the same time I was incredibly honored. So, let me outline for you the topics I will be talking about today as I outline the evolution of the Zelda Franchise. I'll start by introducing to you, in order, the numerous titles in the series that have appeared in the series since the birth of the first Zelda game. Next, I will explain how Zelda has changed over the years. Then I'll talk about my main theme today, which is behind-the-scenes of the franchise's evolution. I'll talk about what it means to be Zelda-esque. or what is Zelda-ness. Finally, I'll talk about approaches to evolving the franchise. I'm sure that many of you that are here today are familiar with the Zelda franchise, but since some of you might not be, I'd like to take a look back at Zelda's history. Let's start by taking a look at each of the Zelda games in the order that they were released. [Shows video clips from all Zelda found on the Collector's Disc].

Now, since this movie won't allow you to completely comprehend the flow of the series, please take a look at this timeline. [Shows timeline]. The numbers represented under sales are worldwide sales, and the units are in thousands of units sold.

This list starts with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, 19 years ago and two years after its launch in Japan. This marked the beginnings of all Nintendo videogame products, not just Zelda. Two years after that in 1987, we saw the now celebrated release of the first title in the Zelda series, The Legend of Zelda, unveiling the top down viewpoint. This was followed up a year later in 1988 with The Adventure of Link, a more action oriented Zelda with side scrolling areas. You may notice a red asterix by The Adventure of Link in this list. This marks the year I joined Nintendo, which technically means Zelda has seniority over me at Nintendo.

In 1991, we released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and followed that a year later with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on that system. With this title the Zelda series once again returned to the top down, isometric view. But, it can probably be said if it were not for this title, the Zelda franchise would never have been developed. It established many of the conventions for Zelda games to come, including those that were refined in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening released for the Game Boy the following year. Even now, Link's Awakening is lauded as a quintessential isometric Zelda game. It was remade in full color in 1998 for the Game Boy Color.

Finally, in 1998 came the game that revolutionized the Zelda series by taking the top down 2D series into full 3D. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time refined the 3D camera of Super Mario 64, allowed players to target enemies, and created a smooth sword fighting experience -- strengthening the appeal of the Z button on the Nintendo 64 controller and selling 7.6 million units world wide.

It was after this 3D Zelda title that I was put in charge of the series. So, when I talk in detail about development shortly, I will be talking mainly about Majora's Mask, which was released two years after Ocarina, and the subsequent release of The Wind Waker when the platform changed to GameCube .

So in 2004, we've seen that the Zelda series has developed into top down styled games on the Game Boy Advance and into full 3D styled games on home consoles like the Nintendo GameCube. But, this year we will see the release of the multiplayer game Four Swords, a game that links the Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo GameCube for a top down game that takes advantage of a 3D engine on the GameCube allowing for "2 1/2D" artistic expression.